Posted by admin on 16 October 2009
an artist's impression
We’re big fans of the Southbank Institute of Technology. There’s more than 30,000 students and staff at their campus here and that’s a whopping demand for housing. And their current redevelopment is having a positive impact on South Brisbane in many ways.
But early in the new year their new accommodation facility will open, with a breathtaking 713 rooms. This is the equivalent of a 400 apartment development (that would usually be made up of 1 and 2 bedroom floorplans) so it will be the inner south’s largest residential building by a country mile. (The next largest is Arbour on Grey with 172 apartments).
And while we support the Institute’s need to house its students, including the 2,500 here from other nations, we just wonder what impact this whopping 13 storey facility will have on local landlords.
Our local rents have not gone up this year and some tenants have seen their rents actually drop. And with the new Institute facility being run by an independent operator they’re not just offering rooms to students – inner city workers are being targeted as well.
The good news for landlords is the rooms aren’t cheap. An ensuited bedroom in a 6 room apartment (i.e. sharing a kitchen and smallish living area with 5 others) starts at $265/week. The building is obviously well-located right at the doorstep of South Bank, but there’s no breath-taking facilities on offer. The designs look efficient while not exciting.
According to the building’s operator Brisbane’s international students are still booming in number with QUT’s intake up 18% this year for example. They’ve no doubt done their homework. In the short term though inner south landlords might just have to hold their rents a little while this massive new supply is soaked up.
Tags: Brisbane rents, international students Brisbane, QUT Brisbane, Southbank Institute of Technology Brisbane, student tenants Brisbane, The Arbour on Grey South Bank
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Posted by Rob Honeycombe on 16 September 2009
Interesting but not surprising news today that Brisbane City Council has uncovered a student share house with 37 occupants. Yes, in the one house!
Brisbanetimes.com.au reports a raid on the Sunnybank Hills home discovered the student-slum, part of a city-wide crackdown on over-crowded residential dwellings. Such a big number in one house is unusual but we’d suggest ‘extended households’ aren’t surprising anymore, especially in our inner city. International students particularly are more open to sharing small spaces. They don’t have big rent budgets and they don’t crave privacy the way many locals do.
For Council there’s some obvious problems with noise, fire risks, extra carparking and waste and rubbish volumes. For landlords the wear and tear on a property will obviously be more significant.
Some landlords are happy to wear this, often exploiting tenants and achieving above-market rent by encouraging or turning a blind eye to the practice. They need to be careful though, with fines of up to $100,000 if they exceed BCC’s new limit of 5 “unrelated” occupants in any one home.
So how do we as property managers police this issue? With difficulty, is the truth. We do scrutinise tenancy applications carefully (e.g. 2 students rarely intend to cover the rent on their own for a 3 bedroom with heaps of spare space), a previous rental history/reference always a good indicator of what they’ll do. The Act requires us to give 7 days notice to inspect so unless there’s an emergency we can’t do a surprise inspection. When we do check on a property we can count toothbrush numbers for example, but even experienced property managers will find it hard to be sure if there’s ‘hidden’ occupants.
The best way to avoid this problem is to get good rental references from their past agents/landlords. It’s no guarantee the tenants won’t move 9 of their best friends into the home, but it is some peace of mind.
If your property is vacant and you’re faced with a choice of reducing the rent or accepting a tenant with limited rental references, what should you do? Does every tenant deserve the ‘presumption of innocence’? Each landlord should make their own choice but for me, I’d drop the rent.
Tags: Brisbane City Council, international students Brisbane, property maintenance, property management Brisbane, routine inspections, student tenants Brisbane
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Posted by admin on 14 May 2009
Okay so students, pets, children, males, teenagers, early 20’s – all cop the short end of the stick when applying for rental property. Some agents do discriminate rather than judge an application on its merits.
And while there are anti-discrimination laws, anti-sexism laws, anti-ageism laws etc, the unfortunate reality is that agents, by virtue of the law, do not need to give a reason why someone has been placed in the property over someone else.
The interesting thing about the executive market this year is that many of the higher-end properties are being snapped up by overseas students with very little/no rental history who are here on large government grants. And unfortunately there are very few corporate execs around, so landlords haven’t had the choice of tenants they’ve had in the past.
So, what’s the best way of dealing with this?
Well firstly if the rent is over $500 per week ($700 after July 1st 2009) you can nominate any bond you like! So take 6/8 weeks rent instead of just 4. Think outside the box – could you include a cleaner in the rent so there is another pair of eyes watching over the property?
I write this in genuine fear that I’ll be slapped with some sort of anti discrimination suit, but the fact is I’m trying to educate people that students/pets/children/young males can make absolutely fantastic tenants, just as females can be dreadful tenants. So don’t discount them but in order to be worry free just come up with a way to ensure that you’re protecting yourself while still giving someone their chance. They deserve it!
Tags: Brisbane executive property, rental bond Queensland, renting to pets Brisbane, student tenants Brisbane, tenancy applications Queensland, tenant marketing Brisbane
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